1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly of the type in which a pair of terminals is mounted in a first housing and a second housing, and where the second housing can be received movably within the first housing so as to mate the terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One prior art electrical connector assembly which is disclosed by Nishino et al. in Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Application (Kohkai) No. 52-133993 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The electrical connector 1 shown in these drawings comprises a female connector 3 called a receptacle which is fixed to a panel 7 and a male connector 5 called a plug. The female connector 3 has a hood 9 into which the male connector 5 is to be inserted for electrical connection, an insulator housing 11 integrally formed on the hood 9, and a pair of projections 13 protruding from the both lateral sides of the hood 9. The housing 11 has a plurality of terminal accomodating chambers in each of which a male electrical terminal called a core pin (not shown) is contained. Tip portions of the male terminals protrude into the hood 9. On the other hand, the male connector 5 has a plurality of terminal accomodating chambers in each of which a female electrical terminal is contained. The female terminals are to be engaged with the male terminals through the insertion of the male connector 5 into the female connector, thereby completing an electrical connection. Moreover, each of the female terminals has a cable which extends from a rear side of the male connector 5 and is supported by a cable clamp 21.
On both lateral sides of the male connector 5, a pair of levers 15 are pivotably supported with rivets 17. The levers 15 extend along the lateral side of the male connector 5, and the ends of the levers are connected to one other through a handle 23 outside the male connector 5. Each of the levers 15 has a guide groove 25 provided on the opposite end from the handle 23. The guide groove 25 is formed such that the groove 25 can receive the projection 13 at the opening portion 25a and guide it toward the interior closed end thereof and ensure that the distance between the rivet 17 and the groove 25 is shorter at the closed end than that at the opening portion 25a. Moreover, two pairs of keys 27, 28 are provided for preventing incorrect engagement of the male and female connectors 5, 3 on the upper and lower sides of the male and female connectors 5, 3.
For connecting the male connector 5 with the female connector 3, the male connector 5 is inserted into the female connector 3 along a direction indicated by an arrow A shown in FIG. 1, and the projections 13 are received by the grooves 25 of the levers 15 at the opening portion 25a. Then, the levers 15 which are supported by stoppers 29 are turned around the rivet 17 in a direction shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1. At this time, the projection is guided into the groove 25 causing further insertion of the male connector 5 into the female connector 3. On the other hand, the handle 23 between the levers 15 abuts a spring stopper 31 to press the stopper 31 downwards. After passing over the stopper 31, the handle 23 is locked by the stopper which is resiliently pushed out by elastic force, whereby the levers 15 are secured and retain the projections 13 in the grooves 25. On the contrary, when detaching the male connector 5 from the female connector 3, the levers 15 are turned in the reverse direction to return the handle 23 back against the stopper 31.
However, in the above prior art connector assembly, because suitable longitudinally elongated levers are required for the purpose of operational ease, possible compactness of the connector assembly is limited. Moreover, since the levers are simply supported by the stoppers when the connector assembly is detached, the levers moves freely, whereby difficulty may be encountered when trying to align the projections with the groove openings on the levers in order to insert the projections into the grooves. Similarly, in the freely movable levers which extend out of the lateral sides of the housings, the rivet connection may be easily damaged by a shock received during the treating and transporting of the connectors.